Father of school shooting survivor allegedly doctored CNN emails

CNN claims that the family of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School junior Colton Haab altered his emails with the news network, to make it appear that a producer encouraged the student to ask a "scripted question" at this week's town hall on gun violence.

In a statement provided to Business Insider, a spokesperson for the network said: "It is unfortunate that an effort to discredit CNN and the town hall with doctored emails has taken any attention away from the goal of the event".

The father's version of the email seemed to show CNN producer Carrie Stevenson fed Colton Haab a scripted question for the news channel's town hall meeting with legislators following the shooting.

Business Insider adds that Colton's father, Glenn Haab, pulled the teen prior to the event after CNN allegedly refused to let him read a longer speech at the town hall.

"In my interview with CNN, I had talked about arming the teachers, if they were willing to arm themselves in the school, to carry on campus", Haab told Carlson. CNN said Stevenson disagreed over the length, not the substance of Colton Haab's question.

Nevertheless, the claim quickly caught the attention of Fox News's Tucker Carlson, who brought Colton on his show on February 22. "He needs to stick to this", she wrote, listing one of Colton Haab's several questions.

In the CNN version, Stevenson states, "This is what Colton and I discussed on the phone that he submitted. He needs to stuck to this".

"This is what Colton and I discussed on the phone that he submitted". In the family's version of the email, the phrase "that he submitted" was not included.

On air, the student repeated the accusation, prompting President Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to tweet about the controversy.

Glenn Haab responded to Stevenson's note to cancel his son's appearance, writing, "We are not actors nor do we read from a script..."

CNN said it found out about the doctored e-mails after Huff Post and Fox News received a copy and asked CNN to verify the authenticity of them. iMediaEthics has uploaded copies of CNN's e-mails with the Haabs here and here. "However, when presented with doctored email exchanges, we felt the need to set the record straight", CNN said in a statement.